However, things always have turning points, as long as someone perseveres. Early mornings now required Liu Jun and Cui Bingbing to work doubly hard because there was an additional child in the house. Liu Jun was cooking fried dumplings and wontons in the smoky kitchen and didn’t hear his phone’s text notification. Cui Bingbing heard it instead and came out of the bathroom to check the message, only to see a photo showing just a naked hand making a “V” sign – it was a text from Shen Huadong.
“Hey, why is Dongdong sending you secret signals so early? Look, what did he accomplish?”
Liu Jun turned to look at the screen and burst out laughing – this was his first heartfelt laugh in days. “That guy conquered Chen Qimei. Can you make out the background? Must be a bed.”
“Eww, you bird men, can such things be made public? You just wait and see.” Cui Bingbing forwarded the photo to her phone, then forwarded it to Chen Qimei. “Wow, a pillow fight is about to break out. I’m very interested. Dongdong will be completely defeated today.” Not satisfied, she had Liu Jun hold up his little finger for her to photograph and immediately sent it to Shen Huadong. After dealing with Shen Huadong, she laughed heartily and went to her daughter’s bedroom to tend to the two little ones.
But when she entered, she saw Dandan’s bed was empty. Cui Bingbing instinctively looked under the bed. Xiao Suihua said softly, “A’San, Dandan slept with me.”
Liu Jun and Cui Bingbing had discussed giving both children the same environment, but one called them dad and mom while the other called them uncle and aunt, immediately creating distinctions. So the two adults painfully implemented complete westernization at home – one became “A’San” and the other “A’Jun” in the children’s mouths, with no hierarchy at all. Looking over, Cui Bingbing indeed saw Dandan squeezed onto Xiao Suihua’s bed, currently lying on Xiao Suihua’s back, sleeping deeply and sweetly. Cui Bingbing laughed at the sight: “Xiao Suihua, did you help Dandan climb up last night?” while reaching out to tickle Dandan awake.
“Dandan wanted to sleep with me. I also wanted to sleep with Dandan.”
“Oh, so both are little troublemakers. What to do – spank each hand once?”
Dandan immediately shrieked and dove under the small blanket, hiding like a cat. Xiao Suihua said seriously, “You can’t use corporal punishment on children.” There was no smile on Xiao Suihua’s face.
Cui Bingbing laughed casually: “Alright, no corporal punishment. We’ll tickle feet instead – wah!” She suddenly pulled off the small blanket and struck like lightning. Four little feet were hit in succession, and the two little ones hugged each other, laughing hysterically, especially Dandan, who screamed and laughed loudly, drawing Liu Jun over to see what was happening. Both adults saw Xiao Suihua’s smile, but neither pointed it out, sharing knowing looks while continuing their tasks as if nothing had happened. They were doing everything possible to create normalcy for Xiao Suihua, erasing all traces of special treatment. They believed Xiao Suihua would smile more in the future.
However, company work was extremely complex. Structural adjustment wasn’t simply changing each employee’s job title – it required coordination, supervision, adaptation, assessment, and analysis of whether adjustment results improved work efficiency. So instead of everyone having nothing to do due to reduced production rates, everyone became busy. Those unfamiliar with the new structure made work errors and faced urgent problems, especially middle and low-level management, who were exhausted trying to cope. Liu Jun observed from above and suddenly thought of those portal websites that had all been redesigned or upgraded recently, also bustling with activity. He couldn’t help wondering if those website managers were also using the slow season to keep everyone busy, preventing problems from idleness.
Amid such artificial busyness, production rates continued their unstoppable decline, chilling every boss to the bone. Even Song Yunhui’s side faced the same problems. Liang Sishen told Liu Jun that Song Yunhui was so anxious he was losing hair by the handful, saying the current economic environment was unprecedentedly harsh. Song Yunhui also sent word to Liu Jun that in such circumstances, survival was the hard truth.
But survival wasn’t easy. Even Shen Huadong finally couldn’t laugh anymore. Local forums idly discussed the situations of several famous local companies, with people eagerly providing material. Someone photographed the parking lot of the Shi Yiji factory and the foot traffic at the main gate during work hours. That observant netizen might not have had malicious intent, but to refute another user’s claim that Shi Yiji wouldn’t have problems, he dug up evidence from archived photos. Last year at this time, factory cars lined up; this year at this time, factory cars were sparse. Last year, during work hours, people flowed like fish at the main gate; this year, during work hours, the gate was sparsely populated. This person even carefully counted heads and vehicles, concluding that Shi Yiji’s twenty percent production capacity was already good.
While the speaker had no intention, listeners took it seriously, and such news spread quickly. For companies like Tengfei, such rumors didn’t matter, but for listed companies, it was different – they faced the public. Immediately, the Shen father and son were frantic, putting out fires, with Shen Baotian especially facing new problems as an old revolutionary. Suffering from anxiety-induced illness, he collapsed and was hospitalized under Cui Bingbing’s father’s care. With Shen Huadong taking command and losing his stabilizing pillar, he was very uneasy when making decisions. Racing and such had long been forgotten. His layoff plans became even more cautious due to public exposure.
Liu Jun constantly monitored online discussions to gather news outside his circle until the discussion was deleted by the website. Fortunately, his company wasn’t mentioned, though Liu Jun figured this was because his company wasn’t big enough – the numerous bankrupt enterprises throughout the industrial zone weren’t posted online either. From comments, he learned that the former Tengfei employee who had left and later surpassed them had fled to Canada. Liu Jun knew clearly that only government intervention could solve the debt collection problems of that superior company. Industrial zone authorities had prioritized approaching Liu Jun to ask if he was interested in a merger, but how could Liu Jun handle it? He could barely survive now – how dare he think of expansion? Industrial zone government could only grimly negotiate government-led bankruptcy reorganization with creditors. One industrial zone company owner was cornered by creditors with nowhere to go, having been kidnapped by creditors countless times, with all valuable household items already taken. Seeing others could declare bankruptcy with limited liability and reorganization, hope immediately ignited in the owner’s heart – he also wanted to declare bankruptcy for his company. But when he tried to execute this, he discovered bankruptcy couldn’t be declared casually. Bankruptcy requires not legal procedures but government approval. Though he had shut down production, dismissed personnel, and was insolvent beyond recovery, his bankruptcy application was somehow rejected. He could only continue battling creditors, occasionally getting beaten and humiliated, living worse than death. By then, it was too late for the owner to disappear.
Liu Jun always shared this news with Cui Bingbing at home, while she provided him with more reliable information. Hearing such bad news improved Liu Jun’s mindset considerably – so many were doing worse than him. At least he hadn’t laid off workers; he was doing quite well. Liu Jun always wanted to know how Yang Xun was doing, but unfortunately, there wasn’t much news in this regard. At least the major hotel Yang Li managed remained open for business, indicating that Yang Xun was surviving normally.
Finally, so many closed or stalled enterprises in the industrial zone affected commodity prices. Even though the National Bureau of Statistics reported CPI and PPI year-over-year increases still above 7%, Liu Jun could see a possible inflation retreat from daily material price comparisons. Previously, he chased suppliers for materials, and suppliers gave bits like squeezing toothpaste, with prices inevitably rising each time. But now, flexible suppliers began chasing him to promote inventory, hoping he’d purchase more at better prices for larger quantities. Instead, Liu Jun didn’t dare buy much. Just as at inflation’s start, traders rushed to build inventory, buying big and selling small, causing market supply shortages and rising prices. So when inflation ended, traders would inevitably rush to clear inventory before others, causing oversupply and competitive price cutting. All in pursuit of maximum profits.
Steel, copper, and even oil products monopolized by the three giants began slowly showing price drops. Liu Jun believed this price decline wasn’t accidental – just looking at the surrounding enterprises’ declining production, this phenomenon might continue or even accelerate. But major financial publications still had experts commenting on published economic data, worrying about next month’s continued inflation. Officials also continued planning to resist inflation damage. After more than half a year of suffering, Liu Jun could no longer trust experts – they had almost become synonymous with irresponsible talk. He trusted his observations, analysis, and judgment more.
Unfortunately, he was willing but unable, though capable of profound analysis, he remained a pawn swept along by major trends. His funds finally faced a shortage. When paying August wages, after calculations and a joint meeting with sales and finance departments, everyone discovered that after deducting necessary payments from receivables before August 10th, Tengfei faced the problem of being unable to pay wages on time. Everyone in the meeting went through income and expenses item by item, analyzing various possibilities, so they all saw clearly that, conservatively estimated, wages couldn’t be fully settled by the 15th.
It was Luo Qing who first proposed in the meeting to withhold his salary – a few days’ delay didn’t matter to him. The finance manager made the same suggestion, willing to sacrifice. Liu Jun certainly wanted this, but he still stated in the meeting that since everyone worked dutifully, he as boss should dutifully pay wages. He disagreed with Luo Qing’s suggestion and indicated he would find a way.
Finding a way meant borrowing money, pawning, or selling family assets. Thinking of borrowing money, he couldn’t get past Qian Hongming – whenever he was in trouble, the person who always extended help without compensation was Qian Hongming, definitely Qian Hongming first. Recalling this now, past events were vivid, adding countless sorrows. Of course, borrowing money now wouldn’t be a problem – if he asked, his father and Cui Bingbing could solve two months’ wages. But after consideration, he decided to drive his Porsche to a pawn shop. This was just a gesture he needed to make during the crisis, a gesture for employees examining with magnifying glasses: the boss would rather sell family assets than delay payday by one day. Actions spoke louder than thousands of words.